[[159]] The berriarah, or gurrearah, devotes
his life
to tending sheep and goats; and, in most situations beyond the
metropolis,
[[160]] obtains a place among the servants attendant upon the out-door
concerns of a family.

Williamson 1810 vol. 1: ((288))
This [=the use
of shepherds as general outdoor servants] is not owing to the scarcity
of meat, but to its bad quality; there being plenty of sheep in India,
which, however, are rarely slaughtered for table expenditure, even by
the
natives; who very justly consider it to be an unclean animal, feeding
on
all kinds of filth. This occasions them to prefer the meaf of a
castrated
goat, commonly denominated kussy, which is certainly not to be
despised;
though its taste is somewhat strong, and the meat itself rather coarse,
and dark colored: but it abounds with fat, and is very juicy.

Be it good or bad, prejudice has proscribed it from the
tables of persons
in respectable stations, or in easy circumstances; ((289)) a joint of
bazar
mutton, that is, such as the butchers sell in the market, being
considered
no treat, and proving extremely obnoxious to the generality of delicate
persons: though I have frequently seen them partake of a joint of kussy
when palmed upon them as home-fed wether, in such style as led me to
believe
that the imagination was a principal agent in condemning the
unfortunate
goat-mutton. I do not mean to deny that a certain difference exists;
but
when the former could not be had, I rarely failed to make an excellent
meal off the latter; while some of my more fastidious friends have been
grievously disappointed of their dinners.

"Sheep," says Captain Williamson, "may be sometimes purchased in
tolerable
good condition, especially during the hot season, when they nibble the
short stems, and even the roots of the finer grasses: yet those
procurable
in the villages are usually mere skeletons, and their fat, if any, is
of
a bad colour. Gentlemen are therefore obliged to keep small flocks,
perhaps
from thirty to sixty, according to the average expenditure; which,
among
officers in the army, may amount to one sheep in fifteen or twenty
days.
The meat is seldom good, nor the animal better for his keep, till put
up
for three or four months.

"The most approved mode of fatting sheep is to have about a
dozen on
full feed, allowing as much gram as they can eat; which is about two
pounds
daily for each. Another dozen should be upon half feed, having an
allowance
of very fine chaff to complete their diet; or perhaps some cut grass,
such
as is brought in for horses. All these twenty-four sheep should be
confined
in an area enclosed either by mud walls, or by railings of a suitable
height;
taking care to allow them access to sweet water, and to salt, of which
a small quantity should be provided in a flat vessel.

"Thus they will fatten admirably in the course of six or seven
months;
their flesh becoming fine grained, juicy, and high flavoured. Besides
these,
about as many more, kept on a small allowance of gram, should be
suffered
to graze, in company with half a dozen milch goats and their kids,
under
charge of the berriarah, in some place remote from any camp or
town,
so as to insure their feeding clean; for all sheep, especially those of
India, are apt to feed on any excrements which they find in their way."

[[161]] Within the last twenty years, great improvements have
taken
place, not only in rearing sheep for domestic expenditure, but also for
the public markets, all over the country, wherever there are a number
of
respectable Europeans at one station. The great evil now is the
over-feeding
[of] butcher's meat by private families, whence it is often too fat and
bilious for a warm climate.

The dress of the berriarah is usually similar to that
of the
cooly, with the addition of a substantial blanket, on
account of
the oppressive heats at one season, the heavy rains at another, and the
sharp cold during three months. This blanket is generally black, the
ordinary
colour of the sheep. In the hot season, it serves to repel the heat;
during
the rains, to keep the berriarah dry; and in the winter, to
keep
him warm.

As any cross folds or pleats would rather retain, than cast
off, the
rain, these people have an effectual mode of managing the blanket;
tying
it together very regularly, after puckering the longest side, and
placing
that part over their heads. Whatever moisture may lodge within the
short
pleats above the ligature, cannot sink downwards, if it be properly
made;
while all the pleats below it, being in a perpendicular direction,
serve
as channels, to carry the water downwards. The blanket, indeed, becomes
a bell-tent, of which the inhabitant is himself the pole.

The wages of the shepherd are usually from three and a half to
four
rupees monthly; but some gentlemen regulate them by the number of sheep
maintained. This by no means answers their expectations; for if the
number
be great, one or two deficiencies, imputed to the wolves, are rarely
noticed;
arid if the flock be small, a shepherd is tempted to take a fat sheep
to
his own use. No sheep can be fatted, taking all things into
consideration,
under four rupees, equal to about ten shillings, including the original
[[162]] price; which has risen of late years to about a rupee per head,
for such as have six teeth. All below that age are generally rejected,
because their food increases their growth rather than their flesh;
which
is seldom of a good colour, but retains a certain light hue, like very
young beef, after the second year.

The wool of the Bengal sheep is coarse and lank, more
resembling dog's
hair than a fleece, and by no means valuable as an article of commerce.
The natives manufacture it into puttoos, a very heavy close
kind
of felt, which stands proof against the severest weather, and may be
made
in any form. Their usual shape is nearly conical, resembling a
bell-tent,
with a rudely worked border of some colour strongly contrasting with
the
body of the cloak. Thus, a black puttoo would have a white
pattern;
and a white puttoo, a black. This extremely simple manufacture
is
performed by means of a carding machine that entangles the wool, which
is previously mixed in a very strong lather of soap.

"The average price of a sheep fit for fatting," says Captain
Williamson,
"is about a rupee.; but that price has existed only for about twenty
years.
Before that date, the common value of a coarge (or score) was
from
six to eight rupees; and at an early date, a sirkar to a
contractor
for European recruits, has bought several coarges for their
use,
at three, and three and a half, rupees. Thus six sheep were purchased
for
a rupee, which in British currency would be five-pence each. The sheep
were certainly not fat; being driven into the camp from the flocks
grazing
in the adjacent plains, and in general, taken without much selection."

Williamson 1810 vol. 1: ((293))
They were the
only animal food we could at times get; for the Hindus would never sell
us an ox, knowing it was intended for slaughter. Notwithstanding the
very
low rate at which the sheep were purchased, many proved dear bargains.
Some had their livers in such a dreadful state as disgusted every
spectator,
and caused an insuperable objection against the meat: fluke-worms
crawled
about in hundreds; while of many, the stomachs, as well as the
intestines,
were completely lined with bots [?], which stood as close as they
((294))
could stow, keeping each other parallel, like pins on a cushion!
Strange
to say, some few of which the entrails were thus preyed upon, seemed as
though they would have thriven, provided they had been turned into a
good
pasture.

It is probable that the price of sheep is now rather on the increase
than on the decline; and when they were supposed to be so very cheap,
the
seller must have before him only [[163]] Hobson's choice. He,
therefore,
wisely determined to accept the small sum of five-pence per head,
rather
than have them taken away without payment by the native purveyor, to an
irresistible detachment of European recruits.